Position Report: November 13, 2016

November 12, 2016

Position: 21º 8.742′ S 35º 6.378′ E
So glad that night is behind us. We returned to Convivia after the taco party to find the boat pitching wildly in a Northerly 20 knots. We hipped fatty and checked our anchor snubber and went below to put the kids to bed. After a few rounds of cribbage, Vick and I retired to bed. Sleep was not forthcoming. The bow was scooping up water every few waves, and when I went up to check, the snubber had broken (for the third time). I replaced the snubber and checked the rest of the boat. Even though she was 3 feet up, Fatty was floating every few waves, and when she went airborne again, would crash (with a shudder) into Convivia. The flopper stopper was so loaded that the shackle that holds the topping lift (the weakest link in that system) was starting to bend open. Normally, in these situations, I just attached the main halyard to the boom’s clue, and relieve the strain, but that halyard was attached to Fatty’s bridal. The answer was obvious but unwelcome.

In the tumultuous sea (as we had no protection at high tide) and wind, we carefully lifted Fatty on deck and (in an unusual twist on our routine) just flipped her right onto her cradle (normally we do this while Fatty is aloft). It was a bit of a fire drill, but it worked and we didn’t do any damage to Convivia or Fatty in the process. Then I got the halyard on the boom, checked the snubber and stood watch for a while to make sure nothing else was in danger. I finally got to sleep (on the saloon settee) around 2am, only to be awoken by a surprised yelp from Vick, who had been attacked by a few flying books.

At seven am we were awoken by angry shouting. The local fishermen had set their nets in such a way that they were dragging down on our anchor. After some unsuccessful attempts at communication I decided that they wanted me to move the boat, a task made nearly impossible by the fact that their net was hard on my chain. The four of us (the kids were awesome) worked together and managed to inch up, drop the net (little by little) cut free the two broken snubber bits, and weigh anchor. We are now safely (I think/hope) anchored out of the way of the fishermen.

I am pulling a weather forecast with this report to see if we will be leaving here on Wed. If not, I think we may take the 8 mile wind down this channel to the peninsula, where we may get better protection. This is nuts.

All is well.

Go top